Two weeks ago the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families released a report called "Race to Equity." In blunt terms, the Madison area has a race problem. The report in the Wisconsin State Journal detailed "jarring findings."

During recent political campaigns we learned that half of all black high school students don’t graduate on time, a harsh indictment of Madison schools. This compares with 16 percent of white children.

But the newspaper story offered other statistics even more harsh:

"Blacks are 5.5 times more likely than whites to be unemployed. Three-quarters of the county’s African-American children live in poverty,compared to 5 percent of white children." You can read the whole report here.

"For all our successes the situation in the greater Madison area is growing worse, especially for African-Americans," says pastor Alex Gee of Fountain of Life Community Church and the Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development. Located on the south side, Nehemiah is located in a neighborhood that can't avoid the issue. But the question is, can the churches located in other parts of Madison afford to avoid the issue?

Evangelical churches in general do not have a good track record in dealing with racial issues, and Madison churches are no different. This is the conclusion from reading the Christian Post report taking evangelical church leaders to task for "repeated and offensive racial stereotyping."

This is not to condemn Madison churches, but rather to say, here is an opportunity for a strong witness to the Madison community.